Facebook ‘Like’ Button Coming to Real Life

The Facebook “Like” button is everywhere. In fact, you can scroll to the bottom of this blog post and “Like” it. But, have you ever wondered if the Facebook “Like” button could break through the boundaries of the internet and enter into the real world? Probably not, but it’s already happening.

The Belgian company Boondoggle Lifelabs created Likify using a somewhat recent technological creation known as the “QR code.” This code is basically a square, black and white image that looks like a bunch of black ink splattered onto a white background. The codes basically allow us to connect real-life items and businesses to the internet.

If you have a smartphone, you can use a downloadable QR reader to scan the code on a product and instantly view a page full of information on that product. For example, let’s say you were shopping for a new pair of dress shoes. You walk by a department store window and see an amazing pair of shoes, but you’ve never heard of the brand before. If they have a QR code tied to that product, you can simply scan the code and instantly receive information on that store as well as that particular pair of shoes.

What Likify has done is connect this QR code system with the Facebook “Like” button. In the coming months, you might see a QR code with the classic Facebook “Like” button above it. If you scan that code with your smartphone, you will automatically “Like” that product or company.

The move, if it catches on, could really enhance the way people share information between the internet and their real lives. But, according to Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch, the idea of “liking” in real life is still just too much of a hassle. He does not see people taking the time to load up their QR readers when they see those QR codes, at least until those readers are a standard feature of smartphones and are much more quickly accessible.

Every new invention and idea must start somewhere, and the start is usually not ideal. But if companies start using this QR code system more regularly around the country, combined with the expansion of QR readers on smart phones, it just might be the next big thing for Facebook.

It comes down to one fact: When people start to notice these QR codes all over the place, they will begin to wonder what they are and how they can use them. At this point, the success of Likify seems to rely on how much cell phone companies and major corporations start to use the QR codes.

You can check out Likify by clicking here: Likify.net